Mobile Phones and Lightning a Lethal Mix

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday June 22, 2006 @07:53PM from the shocking-outcomes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In a letter to the British Medical Journal, doctors wrote that people should not use mobile phones outdoors during thunderstorms because of the risk of being struck by lightning. Usually 'when someone is struck by lightning, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in what is known as a flashover, but if a metal object, such as a phone, is in contact with the skin it disrupts the flashover and increases the odds of internal injuries and death.'"

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Comparison? by alexo · 2006-06-23 10:55 · Score: 0, Flamebait

> Lightening is one of those non-threats that people (especially the media) like to blow out of proportion.
> There are an average of 73 people killed by lightening every year in the U.S.

Just for the sake of comparison, how many people per year are killed in the US by terrorism acts?